Occupiers expect rain at today's port protest

Members of Occupy Long Beach and Los Angeles told their supporters Sunday night to be prepared for a cold, rainy and desolate demonstration this morning at the Port of Long Beach.

Hundreds of members of the Occupy movements in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Orange County are expected to converge 6 a.m. today at the SSA Marine terminals at Pier J to draw attention to perceived economic disparity and social justice, said Toni Kukreja, a member of Occupy Long Beach.

Demonstrators are gathering at the Harry Bridges Memorial Park about 4:30 a.m., followed an hour later by a march on a public walkway near Harbor Scenic Drive to the SSA Marine terminals.

Today's forecast calls for rain and a low in the mid-40s.

SSA Marine is specifically targeted by demonstrators who believe the shipping company is partially owned by financial giant Goldman Sachs.

But that claim is not entirely true, said Bob Watters, senior vice president of Seattle-based SSA Marine, which operates four terminals in Long Beach, one terminal in Los Angeles and a warehouse in Carson.

The company's founding family continues to own a majority of SSA Marine, while the remaining 49 percent is owned by an infrastructure investment fund managed by Goldman Sachs, composed of pension plans for workers in the United States and Australia, Watters said.

Today's march and picket is limited to the Occupy movements. Members of the union representing dockworkers, marine clerks and clerical workers are not participating in the protest, said Robert McEllrath, international president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

The demonstration is expected to end at 9 a.m., when the demonstrators return to the Harry Bridges Memorial Park and leave for a 10 a.m. immigrant rights rally in downtown Los Angeles, Kukreja said.